Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, the husband of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has to get the permission of the Philippine National Police (PNP) if he wants to stay with his wife who is in detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, a Malacañang official said on Saturday.
“That will have to be cleared with the PNP,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run radio dzRB.
“From what I understand, they are supposed to give a list of visitors in advance before the actual visit happens. They will just have to coordinate with the PNP on how that is to be done.”
Arroyo has been charged with electoral sabotage in connection with the 2007 midterm elections and was placed under hospital arrest on Friday at the VMCC.
Pressed on whether Mike Arroyo would be allowed to stay with his wife in detention, Valte said, “We will leave that to the PNP.”
“At this point, CGMA is in the custody of the PNP. As such, they have full responsibility, so they should be given full discretion. They are the ones responsible. So let us allow them to implement the measures and approve what needs to be approved,” Valte said.
Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo’s spokesperson, said Mike Arroyo would stay with the former president while she is in detention at VMMC.
A source said Arroyo spent her first night at the government hospital with her husband, who remained after the couple’s sons Diosdado and Juan Miguel and the family lawyers had left. A private nurse and a helper also stayed, the source added.
Their lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said Mike Arroyo had “volunteered” to stay at the VMMC, but clarified that he should not be perceived as being under arrest as well.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa said that Malacañang had no problem with Mike Arroyo staying with his detained wife at the hospital.
“That should not be a problem but there are rules on visitation to a detainee,” he said. “These are rules, but there will be modifications because of her medical condition.”
Comply with rules
Ochoa, however, said the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology had its own rules on who should be staying in the suite, and that the Arroyos should comply with these rules.
Mike Arroyo was implicated in several controversial deals during his wife’s nine-year term, but was never formally charged in court.
He was investigated for the electoral sabotage his wife is being accused of but was not among those charged in court.
Despite a jittery start in transferring her from a private hospital to VMMC on Friday, Malacañang is confident the government could take care of the former president, her security and other needs.
Not ‘difficult’
Ochoa said that Malacañang didn’t consider Arroyo to be a “difficult” detainee following rantings by her aides and lawyers over the government’s alleged incompetence in handling her transfer from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to VMMC.
“I don’t see any difficulty. The entire government capability is being used first to protect her safety, and to give her due courtesy as a former president, and third, to consider her condition. All of these had been factored into her situation,” he told reporters in an ambush interview at the National College of Public Administration and Governance in Quezon City.
Horn had complained to the media about the long delay in transferring of Arroyo.
Ochoa also defended the government’s decision to detain her at the VMMC while awaiting trial, saying this was in deference to her former position as president and to her medical condition.
“Even convicted criminals, if they get sick, are sent to a medical facility… We can’t deny the fact that she’s a former president. And our President agrees with this, because he’s giving due courtesy to a former president,” he said.
But he could not say if Arroyo would eventually be transferred to a regular jail.
Checkups by her doctors
Asked if Mr. Aquino would visit Arroyo, as Arroyo had done to deposed President Joseph Estrada when he faced plunder charges, Ochoa said: “I don’t know about that.”
Aides of the former president are not ruling out checkups by her doctors from St. Luke’s.
Horn said the family’s lawyers were thinking of asking the court to allow the SLMC physicians to examine Arroyo from time to time.
“We may ask the court to allow her to go to SLMC whenever necessary,” Horn told reporters yesterday.
But VMMC hospital director Dr. Nona Legaspi said on Friday that Arroyo’s medical care now rested with them.
Two VMMC doctors—Dr. Victoria Javier, a specialist on infectious diseases, and Dr. Martha Nucum, a specialist on emergency medicine, are assigned to the former president.
However, the VMMC said it won’t issue any medical bulletins on Arroyo’s condition without court order.
The former president is staying in the 150-sq-m presidential suite. But it has no amenities such as a radio, TV, cell phone or laptop which a Pasay City court had barred.
Visiting hours are from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. But immediate family members and her lawyers can visit anytime.